Saturday, July 26, 2008

Yep, still on it. I apologize for my tenacity, but anything that embarrasses our anti-choice friends is a schadenfreude opportunity I can't resist. So...

While we're busily cementing together The Facts about the laughably lame sham that is the MASSIVE POLL produced by KLRVu/KlrVu/KLRVU Polling/Research/Phone Spammers or whatever they call themselves this hour, there's a side issue:Given that Klrvu, in Winnipeg, had no web presence, no phone number, no physical address, no listing in any business roster, and was unknown in the very small polling business community in Manitoba (one of the reasons being that they're not actually a pollster), they couldn't have been an easy company to find. So how did Campaign Life Coalition, based in Ottawa, hook up with them in the first place? CLC didn't just randomly dial phone numbers until they found someone willing to conduct a MASSIVE POLL for them -- there had to be an intermediary that brought CLC and Klrvu together to wreak statistical havoc. Who? It would be irresponsible not to speculate, right? Yes, let's do:As we know, Klrvu's proprietor, Allan Bruinooge, is the brother of Winnipeg CPC MP Rod Bruinooge, who was one of the first MPs up to the plate to take an outraged swing at the Morgentaler Order of Canada. Lifesite (the online news organ of CLC) has been keeping diligent track of MPs who've complained about the appointment. It's possible, no, probable that CLC contacted all these MPs to thank them, since they were encouraging their rank & file to do the same, and maybe they expressed consternation about the two polls that showed 65% support the Morgentaler award. Possibly MP Bruinooge suggested CLC contact his brother and commission him to do their own poll, a good poll.

There's nothing really wrong with an MP sending a lobby group to his brother's polling company; a little cronyism maybe, but big deal. The problem is everything we now know about Klrvu, which for all intents and purposes didn't exist until a few days ago. Add to that the faulty polling methodology used to deliver a certain result for the obvious purpose of propaganda, plus Klrvu's scrambling to set up a website on Thursday and establish some credibility in response to the dirt being dug up by bloggers :), and it starts to look not so good for whoever may (or may not) have set it up.

Sure, it would never be front-page news, but even a Page 6 "Tory MP arranges sham poll for anti-abortion group" -- ouch, that'd leave a mark. Speculatively-speaking, of course.